Someone Just Stole Jewels Worth $53 Million In Another Cannes Heist

Cannes hasn’t been having great luck with not having jewels stolen lately. But this morning a Cannes thief got a real haul, stealing an estimated $53 million worth of jewels from the Carlton Hotel.

The Carlton Hotel had been hosting an exhibition of diamonds owned by billionaire diamond dealer Lev Leviev. This morning a man with a gun walked right into the hotel, made a beeline for the exhibition, and held it up for $53 million worth of jewels, which he carried away in a briefcase. The thief somehow managed to evade security and escape on foot. Police are currently investigating.

This is the third high-profile jewelry heist in Cannes this year, and the biggest in France since 2008, when according to the AFP three men stole nearly every piece from a jewelry exhibition valued at $113 million.

While the take in this case was much higher than the previous Cannes burglaries this year, it was also less creative. The first Cannes heist of the year involved mysterious thieves who somehow managed to enter the hotel room of a Chopard employee without forcing the door or using a key card. Then they cut an entire safe out of the wall of the hotel room and carry it away without being spotted.

This gunman robbed the hotel by himself, though a source with the Nice police said they suspected he had an accomplice waiting for him outside.

Nobody is reported to have been injured in the robbery, and the hotel has not issued a comment on the burglary.